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Hooker strikes first in battle of vaulters
Olympic champion Steve Hooker has scored a confidence building victory over silver medallist Yevgeniy Lukyanenko overnight, ahead of their showdown at the Sydney Track Classic on Saturday, 28 February and World Athletics Tour Melbourne on Thursday, 5 March.
Competing at Sergey Bubka’s Pole Vault Stars meeting in Donetsk, Ukraine, Hooker’s winning streak continued, recording his fourth victory in as many outings, this time with a clearance at 5.92m.
His victory in Donetsk follows his win in Paris on Friday night, where he joined Bubka as the only other man in history to have jumped six metres on three consecutive occasions – including his leap of 6.06m in Boston, where Hooker became the second highest vaulter in history.
Tired from a schedule that’s taken him from New York and Boston to Paris and Donetsk in just two weeks, the 26-year-old decided to pass on a warm-up. He opened with an easy clearance at 5.62m, and decided to subsequently pass at 5.72m, 5.82m and 5.86, choosing instead to watch the competition unfold.
“I saw that the others were jumping well,” Hooker said. “The gap was almost too long but I thought it would be safer to wait.”
After a first attempt miss at 5.87m, Lukyanenko, the leader after a first attempt clearance at 5.82m – passed to 5.92m, where Hooker decided to rejoin the festivities.
After a pair of misses, Hooker produced a massive clearance to seal the victory over his Russian rival.
As has become custom this season, Hooker immediately had the bar raised to a would-be world record of 6.16m, a centimetre higher than Sergey Bubka’s standard set in Donetsk 16 years ago. But unlike some of the close efforts he displayed on his United States tour, this time he didn’t come particularly close.
“I’ve had so many competitions in just the past week that I’m really looking forward to sleeping in my own bed for a few days,” Hooker said.
For that he’ll have to wait until his European tour concludes in Stockholm on Wednesday night.
Hooker then returns to Australia, where he will come face-to-face with Lukyanenko, the Russian he defeated in a heart-stopping Olympic battle in Beijing.
Every competition between the pair could be crucial. Hooker has a point to prove, after the Russian was handed the world number one ranking by US magazine Track and Field News last year despite his stunning Olympic win in a new Olympic record of 5.96m. Meeting four times last year, the Lukyanenko had the upperhand over Hooker on three occasions.
In other results from last night’s competition, it was fellow Russian Yelena Isinbayeva who stole the show in Donetsk, raising her own world indoor record twice - first to 4.97m and again to 5.00m.
The 26-year-old has now broken the world indoor record in Donetsk for the sixth consecutive year, and last night's efforts marked the 25th and 26th world records for the reigning Olympic, world and European champion.
Twenty-six vaulters from 11 countries gathered for the 20th anniversary of the Pole Vault Stars meeting.
Sydney Track Classic – Sydney Olympic Park – Saturday 28 February 2009
World Athletics Tour - Olympic Park Melbourne – Thursday 5 March 2009
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